Discovering My Passion in the Philippines

For those of you who've known me for quite some time, you know that I have never really been sure of what exactly I wanted to do for the rest of my life. In Pre-K I wanted to be a "computer lady." A few years later, a dance teacher, then an entrepreneur, and then a sports broadcaster. Eventually I went into school majoring in Political-Science (Pre-Law) with hopes of one day going into law school and becoming a successful lawyer. As my first year of college went on, I was frequently asked why I wanted to go into the field that I had chosen. The answer was always the same, "I don't know, it'll make me wealthy."

Learning to play Banana Split; A version of Rock, Paper, Scissors

My entire life, I had no clue of what I wanted to do. But one thing was for sure; I wanted to be rich. I wanted to have a big fancy house, a nice European sports car, and lots of money to vacation with. And while all of those things would be nice to have, they weren't going to make me any more happy than being a lawyer would. Once I came to this conclusion, I began to constantly pray on what exactly God wanted me to do with my life. After spending countless hours in adoration, I finally had some clue of what it was the Lord wanted me to do; something in the medical field.

Now that my career path was narrowed down to "something in the medical field," I had to figure out what exactly that "something" was. Back to the chapel I went, and this time, I knew my calling; nursing. Once I had made this decision, I was still pretty nervous about making it official. I just had to trust God and His plan for me.

Earlier this month, I was blessed with the opportunity to travel to the Philippines with a group of students from all over the country. While in the Philippines, we spent 10 days in the Gawad Kalinga Village. There, we were able to help build homes, play with the children, and evangelize among the people. Our days consisted of work, a break, work again, and then a small break before the children of the village arrived from school.The end of the day was always my favorite. We'd spend our time playing countless rounds of Ninja, volleyball, and other games the kids would teach us. Sometimes I felt that playing with the children was much more tiresome then the actual work we had done earlier in the day! Regardless, I always enjoyed playing with them.

Our last Sunday in the village, we put on a program for the adults and teens. While the program was going on, I, along with two of my teammates, were in charge of keeping the children busy with games so as not to disturb the others. While we were playing a game of "Red Light, Green Light," I couldn't help but notice that one of the little boys, John-Mor, was limping. I pulled him aside to ask what was wrong, and I saw that he had a cut on his ankle. I immediately walked over to my backpack, pulled out my little first-aid kit, and quickly cleaned the wound and put a band-aid over it. He thanked me and continued to play.

Ten minutes later, I noticed John-Mor was limping again. I pulled him aside once more. This time, he had what seemed to look like a puncture wound on the top of his foot. I asked John-Mor what had happened, but he just lowered his head and tears began to well in his eyes. I quickly tried to cheer him up by telling him I would clean and bandage his wound just like I did the last time and everything would be okay. Once I was done, he jumped up with a big smile on his face and gave me a hug while saying "Thank you, Ate Erika, thank you!" (Ate means 'sister' in Tagalog)

John-Mor is pictured here in the red hat

After that, I began to tear up! I was appalled at how putting a band-aid over a cut would bring such joy to a child! I immediately knew that God was re-confirming the fact that I needed to become a nurse. Not just a nurse, but a pediatric nurse practitioner.

So, I guess the two points I'm trying to make here are, have faith in God, and don't become something just because it'll make you rich or famous. But because it brings you complete joy.

Who knew it would take going half way around the world to discover my passion. Oh wait, God did! :)